“That being the single most important day for sports gaming, we missed the ball yet again,” MP Brian Masse (NDP — Windsor West) said Monday.

Betting on Super Bowl XLVIII where the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8 is expected to exceed last year’s record of $98.9 million in Nevada.

And Masse said the non-gaming economic impact in Las Vegas from the Super Bowl is about $100 million.

The NDP’s single event sports betting bill, C-290, was passed by the House of Commons unopposed but has been stuck in the Senate almost two years, Masse said. It could go to a vote sometime this month if it looks like it could garner enough votes to pass, he said.

The Criminal Code prohibits betting on the outcome of a single sports event and if that line was removed, it would be up to each province to decide if it would allow single-event sports betting.

Last week the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce said Windsor could be missing out on tens of millions of dollars in lost gambling revenue a year and the advantage that single sports betting would give Caesars Windsor over Detroit casinos.

“It’s another missed opportunity to showcase Windsor-Essex and create jobs and economic opportunities,” chamber president and CEO Matt Marchand said Monday.

Masse said the Windsor region would be a hotbed for Super Bowl betting. He said people have called him from as far as Ohio to see if the bill has passed and they can visit and bet on March Madness college basketball games.

It’s not just about added visits to hotels and restaurants, Masse said, the change would create jobs such as statisticians to run the numbers on bets that go well beyond which team will win. Allowing single-event sports betting would also take a major revenue stream away from organized crime and put it into education, health care and gambling addiction programs, Masse said.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, joining chambers in Windsor and Quebec/Atlantic Canada, unanimously passed a resolution Monday at its annual general meeting urging the Senate to pass the bill and let the provinces decide how each will handle sports betting.

“With co-sponsors of this resolution from coast-to-coast, this is as strong a statement as we can possibly send to the Senate asking that it please pass the bill and let the provinces decide,” said Matt Marchand, president and chief executive officer of the Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Marchand said that the Canadian Labour Congress has also urged passage of the bill which means “we have the labour and business communities on the same page on this issue.

“The economic and social benefits of passing Bill C-290 are significant — including job creation, an increase in tourism and a legal alternative to single-event betting.”

Originally sponsored by MP Joe Comartin (NDP — Windsor-Tecumseh) the bill , which is now sponsored by MP Brian Masse (NDP — Windsor West), received all-party support in the House of Commons but has been delayed in the Senate for well over a year.

“It’s perplexing as to why the Senate hasn’t acted more quickly on this bill,” said Marchand. “It’s very straightforward.

“Gaming has been the jurisdiction of the provinces since 1985 and we’re simply asking that the Senate pass this bill and allow the provinces to do their job.”

The bill would delete the provisions of the Criminal Code that make it illegal to bet on “any race or fight, or on a single sports event or athletic contest.”

The provinces would then have the policy lever to decide whether, and under what conditions, wagering on single sporting events will be permitted.

Passage of the bill has been opposed by a number of professional sports leagues and organizations and is undergoing third reading in the Senate. According to the Senate’s website, it was last debated June 11 before the Senate adjourned for July and August.

Passage of the bill and implementation of single sports betting would help protect jobs at Caesars Windsor and other gaming establishments, according to the bill’s proponents.

A Caesars Windsor spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

Find Windsor Star on Facebook]]>http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/canadian-chamber-supports-sports-betting-bill/feed0Matt Marchand, president and CEO of Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce. (Windsor Star files, 2012)winstarhallStar editorial: Obstruction in the Senatehttp://blogs.windsorstar.com/opinion/star-editorial-obstruction-in-the-senate
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/opinion/star-editorial-obstruction-in-the-senate#commentsFri, 03 May 2013 22:54:11 +0000http://blogs.windsorstar.com/?p=186139]]>We know the Senate is unelected and unaccountable. Apparently it’s also omnipotent, possessing such vast powers it can ignore the will of elected leaders and the voters they represent.

That’s what it’s been doing for more than a year now. The Senate is dragging its heels in approving Bill C-290, which would see changes made to the Criminal Code to allow single sports betting in Canada.

Windsor-Tecumseh MP Joe Comartin introduced the private member’s bill more than two years ago, and it received unanimous all-party support — something that seldom happens in the House of Commons.

Business and union leaders alike support single sports betting, because it will bring jobs and money to their communities.

The only groups opposing it are those who own professional sports teams. They seem to think their players can’t be trusted not to throw games, and seem oblivious to the fact single sports betting happens all the time — under the table.

Earlier this week chamber of commerce organizations in Quebec and Atlantic Canada joined Windsor and Niagara Falls in supporting the bill. Those provinces have 250 members among them, and they are eager for their voices to be heard.

Senators should realize, when they wake up from their nap, that the lobbying will not stop. In fact, support will continue to grow, because it makes sense.

The benefits would certainly be felt in this community, where Caesars Windsor employs about 3,500 workers.

“It would be a huge boost to our casino and the thousands of jobs it provides,” said Dave Cassidy, financial secretary of CAW Local 444. “It’s very frustrating to see a bill such as this delayed in the Senate when it was given all-party approval in the House.”

Indeed it is. Most people assumed getting Bill C-290 through third reading would be the biggest hurdle. Instead, it’s the Senate that’s causing all the trouble.

Senators need to heed the wishes of the electorate. They want the bill to pass. Today.

]]>http://blogs.windsorstar.com/opinion/star-editorial-obstruction-in-the-senate/feed0The Senate chamber on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)winstareditorialsSports betting bill passes third reading in Ottawa, headed to Senatehttp://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/sports-betting-bill-passes-third-reading-in-ottawa-headed-to-senate
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/sports-betting-bill-passes-third-reading-in-ottawa-headed-to-senate#commentsFri, 02 Mar 2012 21:50:12 +0000http://blogs.windsorstar.com/?p=20719]]>Joe Comartin’s bill to legalize single-event sports betting passed its third reading in the House of Commons in Ottawa Friday and is now headed to the Senate for debate.

“It was basically done in 20 minutes,” said Ian McMahon, Comartin’s legislative assistant. McMahon said one member of parliament from the Conservative and the Liberal parties also spoke to the bill.

The bill proposes to amend the Criminal Code to make it lawful for any provincial government to operate a lottery involving single sporting events.

The code allows for multiple-game sports wagering but prohibits betting on the outcome of a single sporting event.

McMahon said Comartin is confident the bill will receive royal assent in the Senate, adding that Senator Bob Runciman (a Conservative) is sponsoring it.

“Mr. Comartin has crossed all the t’s and dotted the i’s with his Senate colleagues and we have full confidence it will pass,” McMahon said, adding that Comartin said he expects the Senate will vote on the bill by early summer.

Comartin has said in the past that aside from making gaming more competitive, the bill will also help crack down on illegal sports betting, a multi-billion dollar industry in Canada.

If the bill receives royal assent, it will be up to each province to add single-event sports betting to its gaming roster.

“With single (event) sports betting, it could bring anywhere between 100 and 200 jobs (to Windsor),” said David Cassidy, treasurer of CAW Local 444, which represents casino workers in Windsor.

With new casinos opening up nearby in Ohio in early summer, it is very difficult to tell what the gaming business will look like in Windsor, Cassidy said, so if single-event sports betting is legally allowed, the casino here would have a competitive advantage.

The state of Nevada is the only place in the U.S. where people can bet on single sporting events.

However, Cassidy said, the union is concerned that the bill’s timing – if it does pass – will mean it could take months before Caesars offers the new betting option.

Jhoan Baluyot-Lucier, a spokeswoman for Caesars, said that it is too early for the casino to start planning to phase in single-event sports betting. The casino will take its direction from the province if the bill does pass, she said.

“It’s a bill that we’ve supported from the very beginning,” Baluyot-Lucier said, adding that with the concentration of Detroit team sports fans in this area, single-event sports betting will attract a “new kind of customer” to the casino.

Just what shape single-event sports betting could take depends on each province’s gaming authority.

Paul Burns, vice president of the Canadian Gaming Association, said that it could be in the form of a traditional sports book in a casino – which requires individuals to show up and place a bet in person – or it could be offered on the Internet if a province offers online gaming, such as British Columbia.

“I would suspect it’s going to start at the border,” Burns said, referring to Windsor’s position right next to the U.S.

Canadians spend about $4 billion betting on single sporting events on the internet via offshore gambling sites, Burns said, and just $500 million on the provincially-run sports lotteries.

Winnipeg MP Kevin Lamoureux (Liberal – Winnipeg North), who spoke on the bill in the House of Commons on Friday, said that while he does not dispute that the bill would help make the gaming industry more competitive, the federal govenrment must keep in mind that the provinces are still responsible for the negative social effects of gambling, as well as the positive ones.

The provinces have to make sure they have the resources in place to handle the negative side of gaming, where addiction can lead to bankruptcies, broken families and even suicide, he said.

“We kind of overshadow it because of all the revenue (gaming) generates,” said Lamoureux, who was a member of provincial parliament in Manitoba in the early 1990s when the province began regulating gambling.

Parliament’s standing committee on justice and human rights voted unanimously to send the draft bill to a third reading in the House of Commons.

Standing committees are usually where bills get held up, said Comartin’s legislative aide Ian McMahon, so Thursday’s result was a good sign.

The bill proposes to amend the Criminal Code to make it lawful for any provincial government to operate a lottery involving single sporting events. The Criminal Code allows for multiple-game sports wagering, but prohibits betting on the outcome of a single sporting event.

In a statement on Thursday, Comartin said single-event sports betting would give Canadian casinos – like the one in Windsor – a competitive advantage over U.S. casinos. None except those in Nevada allow wagering on single sporting events.

Comartin told the committee that making a change to the Criminal Code would generate about $70 million in wagering in Windsor alone. It would also cut down on illegal gambling, he said.

After the third reading in the House of Commons this spring, the bill will go to the Senate for debate.

]]>http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/single-event-sports-betting-bill-clears-another-hurdle-in-ottawa-headed-to-third-reading-in-house-of-commons/feed0winstarfantoniComartin pushes forward on sports betting billhttp://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/comartin-pushes-forward-on-sports-betting-bill
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/comartin-pushes-forward-on-sports-betting-bill#commentsWed, 15 Feb 2012 15:49:27 +0000http://blogs.windsorstar.com/?p=18836]]>Local MP Joe Comartin (NDP – Windsor-Tecumseh) will provide testimony Thursday in Ottawa that will help move his efforts to legalize single-event sports betting another step closer.
He will appear before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to speak on his bill C-290 (An Act to Amend the Criminal Code, Sports Betting).
Last November, the bill passed second reading by a unanimous vote and referred to committee.
“We’re expecting the committee to finish with the bill this week, head back to the House for a vote on third reading sometime in the early spring and to finish with a speedy process through the Senate,” Comartin said.
Comartin’s bill is seeking to repeal section 207 (4)(b) of the Criminal Code to make it lawful for any provincial government to operate a lottery involving single sporting events.
The Criminal Code allows for multiple-game sports wagering, but prohibits betting on the outcome of a single sporting event. The only jurisdiction in North America which allows single-game sports betting is the state of Nevada.
Comartin believes legalizing betting on single games can boost revenues and create jobs at local casinos, such as Caesars Windsor, and cut down on organized crime.
Ontario and British Columbia governments have both written to the Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson supporting their legislative change.]]>http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/comartin-pushes-forward-on-sports-betting-bill/feed0Caesars Windsor is seen in this file photo. (Scott Webster/The Windsor Star)dbattagello